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108-645: The settlement was originally named Bentley Manor by one of its first settlers, Captain Christopher Billop (1638–1726), a member of the Royal Navy, after his own ship. In 1869 it was renamed as Tottenville after John Totten and his prominent local family of that name, some of whom served as Loyalists under Billop during the American Revolutionary War . Tottenville is part of Staten Island Community District 3 and its ZIP Code

216-603: A Second Language (ESL) classes. The two online catalogs, LEO (which searches the circulating collections) and CATNYP (which searches the research collections) allow users to search the library's holdings of books, journals and other materials. The LEO system allows cardholders to request books from any branch and have them delivered to any branch. The NYPL gives cardholders free access from home to thousands of current and historical magazines, newspapers, journals and reference books in subscription databases, including EBSCOhost , which contains full text of major magazines; full text of

324-535: A college education or higher. The percentage of Tottenville and the South Shore students excelling in math rose from 48% in 2000 to 65% in 2011, though reading achievement declined from 55% to 52% during the same time period. Tottenville and the South Shore's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In Tottenville and the South Shore, 12% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year , less than

432-617: A contract with the City of New York to transfer his donation to the city in order to enable it to justify purchasing the land for building the branch libraries. The NYPL Board of trustees hired consultants for the planning, and accepted their recommendation that a limited number of architectural firms be hired to build the Carnegie libraries; this would ensure uniformity of appearance and minimize cost. The trustees hired McKim, Mead & White , Carrère and Hastings , and Walter Cook to design all

540-678: A lieutenant in command of an infantry detachment under colonial governor Edmund Andros . New York Public Library The New York Public Library ( NYPL ) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress and the fourth-largest public library in

648-470: A novel solution: he declared that all islands in New York Harbor that could be circumnavigated in 24 hours would belong to New York, and if such a voyage took longer than that, they would belong to New Jersey. Although there have been many descriptions of what happened during the period of before and after Billopp circumnavigated Staten Island, one, which is described in the following text, has been

756-552: A now abandoned factory was built in 1900 as Nassau Smelting's plant. It was later used for recycling by Lucent Technologies and closed in 2001. Tottenville is bounded on the west and south by the Arthur Kill , and on the east by Raritan Bay , the mouth of which lies immediately to the south of Arthur Kill's entry to the bay (which is also sometimes reckoned as being part of the Atlantic Ocean ). The Conference House

864-566: A number surpassed only by the Library of Congress and the British Library . Telephone Reference, known as ASK NYPL, answers 100,000 questions per year, by phone and online, as well as in The New York Times . The Library website provides access to the library's catalogs, online collections and subscription databases. It also has information about the library's free events, exhibitions, computer classes and English as

972-529: A policy of selling its cultural collections abroad for gold. Related collections include a significant number of important works by Russian photographers, and photographs related to the House of Romanov and Russia expert George Kennan . The military drew extensively from the library's map and book collections in the world wars, including hiring its staff. For example, the Map Division's chief Walter Ristow

1080-627: A population density of 6.8 inhabitants per acre (4,400/sq mi; 1,700/km). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 84.4% (19,685) White , 2.6% (599) African American , 0.1% (13) Native American , 3.1% (720) Asian , 0% (5) Pacific Islander , 0.2% (39) from other races , and 0.9% (200) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.8% (2,052) of the population. The entirety of Community District 3, which comprises Tottenville and other South Shore neighborhoods, had 159,132 inhabitants as of NYC Health 's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.3 years. This

1188-854: A public lending library through its branch libraries in the Bronx , Manhattan , and Staten Island , including the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (formerly: Mid-Manhattan Library), the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library , the circulating collections of the Science, Industry and Business Library , and the circulating collections of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts . The branch libraries comprise

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1296-587: A voyage took longer than that, they would belong to New Jersey. For more information, see the Staten Island section above. On Staten Island Billopp built his house after this, which he named the Manor of Bentley in honor of his ship. He 1709 he gained the charter to operate the Perth Amboy Ferry , part of an important overland route between New York and Philadelphia. Billopp served for a time as

1404-879: Is 10307 (formerly "Staten Island 7, New York"). Tottenville is patrolled by the 123rd Precinct of the New York City Police Department . Tottenville has been represented in the New York State Senate by Andrew Lanza since 2007. It is represented in the New York State Assembly by Michael Reilly . The Raritan band of the Unami Indians , a branch of the Lenape or Delaware nation, were the original inhabitants of all Staten Island, including Tottenville. The largest pre-European burial ground, known as Burial Ridge ,

1512-488: Is 42% in Tottenville and the South Shore, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 49% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Tottenville and the South Shore are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying . The neighborhood is composed mostly of upper-middle-class families, and it has the highest proportion of Roman Catholics than any other neighborhood on

1620-634: Is a New York City designated landmark . The Tottenville station has been the southern terminus of the Staten Island Railway since the railway was extended to the neighborhood on June 2, 1860. Today, the neighborhood of Tottenville contains the two southernmost stations along the line: Tottenville station (the southernmost railway station in New York state), and Arthur Kill station . Before Arthur Kill opened on January 21, 2017, there were two other stations which were Atlantic (named after

1728-585: Is a database of over 900,000 images digitized from the library's collections. The Digital Collections was named one of Time Magazine ' s 50 Coolest Websites of 2005 and Best Research Site of 2006 by an international panel of museum professionals. The Photographers' Identities Catalog (PIC ) is an experimental online service of the Photography Collection in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building . Other databases available only from within

1836-479: Is about the same as the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 21% are between the ages of between 0–17, 26% between 25 and 44, and 29% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 8% and 16% respectively. As of 2017, the median household income in Community District 3 was $ 96,796, though

1944-553: Is called the Bentl[e]y Manor, in honor of the ship owned by Billopp. At this time, Billopp was just across the waterway from Staten Island at Perth Amboy, New Jersey aboard a small two-gun vessel called the Bentley . Billopp was selected for the duke's challenge. While struggling to figure out how to complete the more than 35-mile (56 km) voyage within the duke's time frame of 24 hours, Billopp reasoned that if he packed

2052-422: Is known for having a welcoming environment when its comes to people of diverse backgrounds. The library offers free work and life skills classes. These are offered in conjunction with volunteers and partnerships at the library. In addition, the library offers non-English speakers materials and coaching for them to acclimate to the U.S. For these non-English speakers, the library offers free ESOL classes. An initiative

2160-652: Is located exclusively within the ZIP Code 10307. The United States Postal Service operates one post office in Tottenville, located at 228 Main Street. Tottenville and the South Shore generally have a similar rate of college-educated residents to the rest of the city as of 2018. While 41% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 8% have less than a high school education and 51% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Staten Island residents and 43% of city residents have

2268-480: Is located in what is now Conference House Park . The village was originally named Bentley Manor by one of its first settlers, Captain Christopher Billop (1638–1726), after a small ship he owned named the Bentley . In 1869 the district was renamed as Tottenville , apparently in honor of John Totten and the locally prominent Totten family. Their names appear on tombstones in the cemetery of Bethel Methodist Church. Several Totten family members were Loyalists during

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2376-576: Is served by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)'s Engine Co. 151/Ladder Co. 76, located at 7219 Amboy Road. As of 2018, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Tottenville and the South Shore than in other places citywide. In Tottenville and the South Shore, there were 77 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 3.6 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Tottenville and

2484-499: Is served by the S59 and S78 local buses. Express bus service to and from Manhattan is provided by the SIM2 , SIM25 and SIM26 . Though no highways pass through the neighborhood, NY Route 440 and Korean War Veterans Parkway (formerly known as Richmond Parkway) are located nearby. Christopher Billopp (Royal Navy officer) Christopher Billop ( c.  1633 – 1889 )

2592-571: Is still the heart of the NYPL's research library system. The SIBL, with approximately two million volumes and 60,000 periodicals, is the nation's largest public library devoted solely to science and business. The NYPL's two other research libraries are the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture , located at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem , and the New York Public Library for

2700-787: The New York Times (1995–present), Gale's Ready Reference Shelf which includes the Encyclopedia of Associations and periodical indexes, Books in Print ; and Ulrich's Periodicals Directory . The New York Public Library also links to outside resources, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics ' Occupational Outlook Handbook , and the CIA 's World Factbook . Databases are available for children, teenagers, and adults of all ages. The NYPL Digital Collections (formerly named Digital Gallery)

2808-558: The American Revolution and served under Captain Christopher Billopp . During the colonial period and for a significant time thereafter, Tottenville was an important waypoint for travelers between New York City—of which Staten Island did not formally become a part until 1898—and Philadelphia . These were both sites of temporary capitals of the new United States. The town was the site of a ferry that crossed

2916-687: The Arthur Kill to the Ferry Slip in Perth Amboy, New Jersey . The ferry became less important when the Outerbridge Crossing opened in 1928, but continued to operate until 1963. Two distinctive landmarks stand at the northern approaches to the neighborhood: the Bethel United Methodist Church , erected in 1840 and rebuilt on the same site in 1886 after a fire destroyed the original structure. Secondly,

3024-593: The Beaux-Arts style, and the structure opened on May 23, 1911. It was the largest marble structure up to that time in the United States. The two stone lions guarding the entrance were sculpted by E.C. Potter and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers . Its main reading room was contemporaneously the largest of its kind in the world at 77 ft (23 m) wide by 295 ft (90 m) long, with 50-foot-high (15 m) ceilings. An expansion in

3132-660: The Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public Library . According to the 2006 Mayor's Management Report, New York City's three public library systems had a total library circulation of 35 million: the NYPL and BPL (with 143 branches combined) had a circulation of 15 million , and the Queens system had a circulation of 20 million through its 62 branch libraries. Altogether the three library systems hosted 37 million visitors in 2006. Taken as

3240-467: The Croton Reservoir . John Shaw Billings , the first director of the library, created an initial design that became the basis of the new building containing a huge reading room on top of seven floors of book stacks, combined with a system that was designed to get books into the hands of library users as fast as possible. The architectural firm Carrère and Hastings constructed the structure in

3348-748: The National Library of Medicine ), Edwin H. Anderson , Harry M. Lydenberg , Franklin F. Hopper , Ralph A. Beals, and Edward Freehafer (1954–1970). They emphasized expertise, objectivity, and a very broad worldwide range of knowledge in acquiring, preserving, organizing, and making available to the general population nearly 12 million books and 26.5 million additional items. The directors in turn reported to an elite board of trustees, chiefly elderly, well-educated, philanthropic, predominantly Protestant, upper-class white men with commanding positions in American society. They saw their role as protecting

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3456-754: The New York City Council by Joe Borelli , in the New York State Senate by Andrew Lanza , and in the New York State Assembly by Michael Reilly . Tottenville is located within Staten Island Community District 3 . The Stadium Theatre, a 1,037-seat movie theater, was located in Tottenville from 1927 to 1957. In January 1969 it re-opened as the New Stadium Theatre and was a rock-music venue hosting bands such as The Brooklyn Bridge . By

3564-519: The colony of New York , which became known as the Billop plantation. He built a stone manor house upon the land named "Bentley Manor", after the name of a small ship he had commanded, the Bentley . In 1687, he received a second crown grant. Although land ownership went through several hands, including those of William Henry Aspinwall , the neighborhood retained the Bentley Manor name into

3672-658: The 1970s and 1980s added storage space under Bryant Park , directly west of the library. The structure was given a major restoration from 2007 to 2011, underwritten by a $ 100 million gift from philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman , for whom the branch was subsequently renamed. Today, the branch's main reading room is equipped with computers with access to library collections and the Internet as well as docking facilities for laptops. A Fellows program makes reserved rooms available for writers and scholars, selected annually, and many have accomplished important research and writing at

3780-460: The 1970s it had become the site of a roller rink . It is currently closed and plans have not been made to reopen the theater. Tottenville and the South Shore are patrolled by the 123rd Precinct of the NYPD , located at 116 Main Street. The 123rd Precinct ranked safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. As of 2018, with a non-fatal assault rate of 25 per 100,000 people, Tottenville and

3888-462: The 1990s, the New York Public Library decided to relocate that portion of the research collection devoted to science, technology, and business to a new location. The library purchased and adapted the former B. Altman & Company Building on 34th Street . In 1995, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the library, the $ 100 million Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL), designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates of Manhattan, opened to

3996-472: The 19th century, there is no concrete evidence that such a race occurred. In 1709, Billopp received a charter to operate the Perth Amboy Ferry , part of an important overland route between New York and Philadelphia. The legend describes Billopp's alleged role in securing Staten Island for New York. To settle a territorial dispute between New York and New Jersey, the Duke of York was said to have come up with

4104-564: The Main Street corridor in the heart of the neighborhood. A second commercial core began to emerge at the north end of the community along Page Avenue and west of Amboy Road at this time. Further expansion on the neighborhood's north end was seen in 2005 with the redevelopment of the old Nassau Smelting plant. Site clean up began in October 2006, and was scheduled to be finished within a year. The site had suffered chemical contamination, as it

4212-413: The Manor of Bentley in honor of his ship. While this anecdote has been widely repeated, including by Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg , reliable historical documentation of the event is extremely sparse, and most historians conclude that it is entirely apocryphal. In 2007, The New York Times addressed the issue in a news article, which concluded that this event was heavily embellished over

4320-402: The NYPL charged a late fee of $ 0.25 per day per book; other types of items had different late fees, and seniors and disabled patrons paid lower late fees. The library system's president, Anthony Marx , indicated his intention to eliminate late fees after assuming the library's presidency in 2011. The NYPL stopped charging late fees on October 5, 2021. Existing debts have since been cleared from

4428-792: The NYPL is granted a charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York and is registered with the New York State Education Department . The basic powers and duties of all library boards of trustees are defined in the Education Law and are subject to Part 90 of Title 8 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations . The NYPL's charter, as restated and granted in 1975, gives

Tottenville, Staten Island - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-544: The NYPL represents 0.02% of the city's 2024 budget of $ 110 billion. Funding for Sunday service was restored in June 2024. In February 2013, the New York and Brooklyn public libraries announced that they would merge their technical services departments. The new department is called BookOps. The proposed merger anticipates a savings of $ 2 million for the Brooklyn Public Library and $ 1.5 million for

4644-502: The Nassau Smelting property from Lucent Technologies . Their plans to rezone the property from Manufacturing (M) to residential (RX3) in order to develop residential housing units met with criticism and opposition from the community, because the soils were contaminated from the heavy metals that were recycled during Lucent Technologies tenure of operation. The future use of this property remains undetermined. For census purposes,

4752-405: The New York City government classifies Tottenville as part of a larger neighborhood tabulation area called Charleston-Richmond Valley-Tottenville. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census , the population of Charleston-Richmond Valley-Tottenville was 23,313, a change of 4,981 (21.4%) from the 18,332 counted in 2000 . Covering an area of 3,432.93 acres (1,389.26 ha), the neighborhood had

4860-417: The New York Public Library consisted of 4 research centers and 89 neighborhood branch libraries in the three boroughs served. All libraries in the NYPL system may be used free of charge by all visitors. As of 2019 , the research collections contain 46.8 million items (books, videotapes, maps, etc.), while the branch libraries contain 9.9 million items. Together the collections total nearly 53 million items,

4968-462: The New York Public Library system, but rather by their respective borough library systems: the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public Library . The branch libraries are open to the general public and consist of circulating libraries . The New York Public Library also has four research libraries , which are also open to the general public. The library, officially chartered as The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations ,

5076-518: The New York Public Library. Although not currently part of the merger, it is expected that the Queens Public Library will eventually share some resources with the other city libraries. As of 2011, circulation in the New York Public Library systems and Brooklyn Public Library systems has increased by 59%. Located in Long Island City , BookOps was created as a way to save money while improving patrons service. The services of BookOps include

5184-528: The Performing Arts , located at Lincoln Center . In addition to their reference collections, the Library for the Performing Arts and the SIBL also have circulating components that are administered as ordinary branch libraries. The New York Public Library was not created by government statute. From its earliest days, the library was formed from a partnership of city government with private philanthropy. As of 2010,

5292-705: The Selection Team which "acquires, describes, prepares, and delivers new items for the circulating collections of Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) and New York Public Library, and for the general collections of NYPL's research libraries." Under the Selection Team are the Acquisitions Department, the Cataloging Department, The Collections Processing Unit, and the Logistics Department. Before this facility opened, all

5400-627: The Slavic and Baltic Division. A number of innovations in recent years have been criticized. In 2004 NYPL announced participation in the Google Books Library Project . By agreement between Google and major international libraries, selected collections of public domain books would be scanned in their entirety and made available online for free to the public. The negotiations between the two partners called for each to project guesses about ways that libraries are likely to expand in

5508-427: The South Shore have a low population of residents who are uninsured . In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 4%, less than the citywide rate of 12%, though this was based on a small sample size. The concentration of fine particulate matter , the deadliest type of air pollutant , in Tottenville and the South Shore is 0.0066 milligrams per cubic metre (6.6 × 10 oz/cu ft), less than

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5616-517: The South Shore's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 193 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. The 123rd Precinct has a substantially lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 70.5% between 1990 and 2022. The precinct reported two murders, three rapes, 22 robberies, 53 felony assaults, 42 burglaries, 271 grand larcenies, and 126 grand larcenies auto in 2022. Tottenville

5724-669: The Tottenville Branch of the New York Public Library . 88 Bentley Street has been photographed as an example of Staten Island's carefully restored Victorian homes in New York City - The Five Boroughs: A Photographic Tour (1997) by Carol M. Highsmith and Ted Landphair . In addition, the Old Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne was restored after a fire and is now used as a home for children. During an early period of industrialization, many small factories once dotted

5832-497: The United States , are also available to anyone in the U.S. via the SimplyE app. In 2006, the library adopted a new strategy that merged branch and research libraries into "One NYPL". The organizational change developed a unified online catalog for all the collections, and one card to that could be used at both branch and research libraries. The 2009 website and online-catalog transition had some initial difficulties, but ultimately

5940-496: The aforementioned departments were housed in different locations with no accountability between them, and items sometimes taking up to two weeks to reach their intended destination. BookOps now has all departments in one building and in 2015 sorted almost eight million items. The building has numerous rooms, including a room dedicated to caring for damaged books. The consolidations and changes in collections have promoted continuing debate and controversy since 2004 when David Ferriero

6048-602: The branch libraries. New York author Washington Irving was a close friend of Astor for decades and had helped the philanthropist design the Astor Library. Irving served as President of the library's Board of Trustees from 1848 until his death in 1859, shaping the library's collecting policies with his strong sensibility regarding European intellectual life. Subsequently, the library hired nationally prominent experts to guide its collections policies; they reported directly to directors John Shaw Billings (who also developed

6156-584: The catalogues were integrated. NYPL's Community Oral History Project shares New York City's neighborhoods and diverse people by documenting history through collected stories. The Oral History Project includes people living in Greenwich Village, Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood, Times Square, Hell's Kitchen, Soho, Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Kips Bay as well as Transgender , Latino Americans, Veterans, and Disability Experience. The New York Public Library offers many services to its patrons. Some of these services include services for immigrants. New York City

6264-407: The city average. Seventeen percent of Tottenville and the South Shore residents are smokers , which is more than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Tottenville and the South Shore, 26% of residents are obese , 9% are diabetic , and 22% have high blood pressure —compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 17% of children are obese, compared to

6372-508: The city of New York". This money would sit untouched in a trust for several years, until John Bigelow , a New York attorney, and Andrew Haswell Green , both trustees of the Tilden fortune, came up with an idea to merge two of the city's largest libraries. Both the Astor and Lenox libraries were struggling financially. Although New York City already had numerous libraries in the 19th century, almost all of them were privately funded and many charged admission or usage fees (a notable exception

6480-413: The city, with the requirement that they be operated and maintained by the City of New York. The Brooklyn and Queens public library systems, which predated the consolidation of New York City , eschewed the grants offered to them and did not join the NYPL system; they believed that they would not get treatment equal to the Manhattan and the Bronx counterparts. Later, in 1901, Carnegie formally signed

6588-470: The citywide average of 20%. Ninety-five percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is more than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 88% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Tottenville and the South Shore, there are 4 bodegas . The nearest major hospital is Staten Island University Hospital South Campus in Prince's Bay. Tottenville

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6696-447: The citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 89% of high school students in Tottenville and the South Shore graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%. Tottenville High School , a public school, was originally located in the neighborhood, but a new campus was opened approximately three miles to the north, in the neighborhood of Huguenot , in 1971 ( Totten Intermediate School 34 or I.S. 34, an intermediate school , now occupies

6804-401: The consolidation program, the NYPL moved various back-office operations to a new Library Services Center building in Long Island City. A former warehouse was renovated for this purpose for $ 50 million . In the basement, a new, $ 2.3 million book sorter uses bar codes on library items to sort them for delivery to 132 branch libraries. At two-thirds the length of a football field, the machine is

6912-445: The control of the Duke of York, who was the brother of King Charles II . By 1667, a territorial dispute raged over Staten Island between New York, namesake of the duke, and New Jersey, which had possession of Staten Island under Dutch rule. To settle the dispute, the duke supposedly came up with a novel solution: he declared that all islands in New York Harbor that could be circumnavigated in 24 hours would belong to New York, and if such

7020-475: The deck of his ship with empty barrels, the extra surface area could harness some more wind giving his ship a slight boost in speed. Thus equipped, Billopp completed the circumnavigation in just over 23 hours and secured Staten Island for New York. In recognition of his achievement, the duke awarded Billopp a total of 1,163 acres (4.71 km ) of land located in what is now the Tottenville section of Staten Island. On this land, Billopp built his house, which he named

7128-424: The defunct Atlantic Terra Cotta Company factory nearby) and Nassau (referring to Nassau Smelting and Refining, the original name of the factory later taken over by Lucent Technologies), which closed on the same day that Arthur Kill was opened, as Arthur Kill replaced both of them. Atlantic and Nassau stations are now closed and demolished. The 14-mile trip to the St. George Terminal takes 42 minutes. Tottenville

7236-424: The designation official on April 12. After years of being uninhabited and in disrepair, the home was restored in 2017. In March 2008, over 20 blocks in the northern section of the neighborhood were changed to one-way streets. This was intended to improve traffic management on the older, narrower blocks. In 2016, a consortium of Bridgewater Capital and the Brooklyn-based Riseman family bought 30 acres (12 ha) of

7344-456: The digital imaging department (formerly at the Main Branch building) and the manuscripts and archives division, where the air is kept cooler; on the third, the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division, with a staff of 10 (as of 2010) but designed for as many as 30 employees. The NYPL maintains a force of NYC special patrolmen, who provide security and protection to various libraries, and NYPL special investigators, who oversee security operations at

7452-434: The early 20th century. The house, inherited by his great grandson Colonel Christopher Billopp , a British Loyalist during the American Revolution , was the setting for a failed peace conference between Lord Howe and members of the Continental Congress . His house is now a United States National Historic Landmark known as the Conference House . In 1664, the Dutch colonies became English colonies, and all fell under

7560-406: The first half of the 20th century, several hotels dotted the shoreline, including the Shore House Hotel. The Coral Bay Cafe restaurant operated there but was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy . Many large, stately homes built in Tottenville in the 19th century remain standing. But in the early 21st century, land developers have been buying up the property on which several of these houses have stood, with

7668-488: The future. According to the terms of the agreement, the data cannot be crawled or harvested by any other search engine; no downloading or redistribution is allowed. The partners and a wider community of research libraries can share the content. The sale of the separately endowed former Donnell Library in midtown provoked controversy. The elimination of Donnell was a result of the dissolution of children's, young adult and foreign language collections. The Donnell Media Center

7776-469: The intention of demolishing them and constructing townhouses on the property. The fate of 7484 Amboy Road, built circa 1870 as the parsonage of Bethel Methodist Church and contained an extremely large backyard, became the focus of an intense local controversy in March 2005. The community opposed plans by builder John Grossi, who had purchased the property, to raze the house and construct five townhouse units on

7884-466: The island (94% Roman Catholic). In the mid-2000s the first Mexican immigrants settled here. There have also been a growing number of Coptic Orthodox Christians from Egypt; as of 2012, the Virgin St. Mary and St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Tottenville is one of two Coptic parishes on Staten Island. Tottenville's white Population is 60% ethnic Italian as of 2012. The neighborhood is represented in

7992-450: The island with operators. The other was Honeywood 6. When dial service arrived, they were combined to become YUkon 4. During the 1990s, the section of Tottenville southeast of Hylan Boulevard , until then nearly uninhabited, was an area of intense levels of new home construction. The district's population density and crime rate still rank among the lowest in New York City. Until the 2000s, commercial development had largely been restricted to

8100-480: The largest of its kind in the world, according to library officials. Books located in one branch and requested from another go through the sorter, the use of which has cut waiting times by at least a day. Together with 14 library employees, the machine can sort 7,500 items an hour (or 125 a minute). On the first floor of the Library Services Center is an ordering and cataloging office; on the second,

8208-411: The library charged admission and did not permit physical access to any literary items. Former Governor of New York and presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden believed that a library with citywide reach was required, and upon his death in 1886, he bequeathed the bulk of his fortune—about $ 2.4 million (equivalent of $ 81 million in 2023)—to "establish and maintain a free library and reading room in

8316-538: The library facilities. These officials have on-duty arrest authority granted by the New York Penal Law . Some library branches contract for security guards. To celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2020, the NYPL calculated a list of its most checked out books. Topping the list was Ezra Jack Keats ' The Snowy Day , with The Cat in the Hat and Nineteen Eighty-Four rounding out the top three. Until 2021,

8424-474: The library include Nature , IEEE and Wiley science journals , Wall Street Journal archives, and Factiva . Overall, the digital holdings for the Library consist of more than a petabyte of data as of 2015. NYPL cardholders can download free e-books via the SimplyE app and website. As part of the Books for All program, a limited number of books in the NYPL's collection, which have been banned elsewhere in

8532-455: The library's autonomy from politicians as well as bestowing upon it status, resources, and prudent care. Representative of many major board decisions was the purchase in 1931 of the private library of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847–1909), uncle of the last tsar . This was one of the largest acquisitions of Russian books and photographic materials; at the time, the Soviet government had

8640-688: The library. The Main Branch also contains several historic designations. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and designated a New York City designated landmark in 1967. Astor Hall, first-to-third-floor stairs, and McGraw Rotunda were designated as interior landmarks in 1974. and the Rose Main Reading Room and Public Catalog Room were separately made New York City designated landmarks in 2017. In

8748-621: The masses of the people can get thereto". An act of the New York State Legislature incorporated the Lenox Library in 1870. The library was built on Fifth Avenue , between 70th and 71st Streets, in 1877. Bibliophile and philanthropist James Lenox donated a vast collection of his Americana , art works, manuscripts, and rare books, including the first Gutenberg Bible in the New World . At its inception,

8856-407: The median income in Tottenville individually was $ 81,478. In 2018, an estimated 11% of Tottenville and the South Shore residents lived in poverty, compared to 17% in all of Staten Island and 20% in all of New York City. One in sixteen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 6% in Staten Island and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent,

8964-525: The most reiterated: The task of sailing around Staten Island was assigned to Christopher Billopp, who, in his sloop, the Bentley , circumnavigated the Island in a few minutes less than 24 hours, and thus saved the Island for the Duke of York. Christopher Billopp was rewarded by a grant of about 1,163 acres of land at the extreme south end of the Island, and he there built a house which is still standing, and which

9072-582: The name of the corporation as The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations . The library is governed by a board of trustees, composed of between 25 and 42 trustees of several classes who collectively choose their own successors, including ex officio the New York City Mayor , New York City Council Speaker and New York City Comptroller . The New York Public Library is one of three separate and independent public library systems in New York City. The other two library systems are

9180-457: The neighborhood's western shoreline, but jobs have shifted and most are no longer in operation. Boat construction also once flourished along the shoreline, but the industry was rendered obsolete in 1900 when ships and commercial boats began being constructed of steel rather than wood. During World War I , shipbuilding was revived here, but that proved temporary. Tottenville's last shipyard closed in 1930. Harvesting oysters from surrounding waters

9288-633: The original high school building). One of the area's oldest buildings is the old building of P.S.1 (the Tottenville School), dating from 1878, and is unique for its traditional sloped roof. Today it is still in operation, now served by a second, newer building as well, built in 1929. In 2000, a new elementary school, P.S.6 (the Corporal Allan F. Kivlehan School), was opened to serve eastern Tottenville's growing population, as well as other neighboring areas. Tottenville's local Catholic school

9396-561: The public. Upon the creation of the SIBL, the central research library on 42nd Street was renamed the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. Today there are four research libraries that comprise the NYPL's research library system; together they hold approximately 44 million items. Total item holdings, including the collections of the Branch Libraries, are 50.6 million . The Humanities and Social Sciences Library on 42nd Street

9504-491: The records of all NYPL patrons. On November 26, 2023, Sunday services were discontinued at select branches where it was offered; along with reduced programs for adults and children. This followed months of contentious budget negotiations between the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams , with Adams claiming that the New York City migrant housing crisis necessitated the budget cuts. The $ 12.6 million in city spending for

9612-431: The research libraries in the system are largely funded with private money, and the branch or circulating libraries are financed primarily with city government funds. Until 2009, the research and branch libraries operated almost entirely as separate systems, but that year various operations were merged. By early 2010, the NYPL staff had been reduced by about 16 percent, in part through the consolidations. In 2010, as part of

9720-553: The site. On March 17 Grossi spray-painted graffiti on the house, including a threat to fill it with low-income tenants under the federal Section 8 housing program. The public outcry prompted New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg to have the home declared a landmark, and prevented its demolition. Bloomberg announced his decision during a visit to Tottenville on March 22, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission made

9828-622: The third-largest library in the United States. These circulating libraries offer a wide range of collections, programs, and services, including the renowned Picture Collection at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library and the Media Center, redistributed from Donnell. The system has 40 libraries in Manhattan, 35 in the Bronx, and 14 in Staten Island. The newest is the Charleston Library, which opened on March 16, 2022. As of 2022,

9936-557: The war, their land was confiscated in 1784. Tottenville has a strong Victorian architecture heritage, akin to neighborhoods on Staten Island's North Shore . This is unique to this South Shore neighborhood. The other South Shore areas were developed much later. Seven buildings in Tottenville have been honored with the Preservation League of Staten Island Award: 88 Bentley Street, 24 Brighton Street, 213 Wood Avenue, 115 Bentley Street, 7647 Amboy Road, 7639 Amboy Road, and

10044-608: The will's conditions and constructed the Astor Library in 1854 in the East Village . The library created was a free reference library; its books were not permitted to circulate. By 1872, the Astor Library was described in a New York Times editorial as a "major reference and research resource", but, "Popular it certainly is not, and, so greatly is it lacking in the essentials of a public library, that its stores might almost as well be under lock and key, for any access

10152-459: The world . It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing. The library has branches in the boroughs of the Bronx , Manhattan , and Staten Island and affiliations with academic and professional libraries in the New York metropolitan area . The city's other two boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens , are not served by

10260-448: The years and almost certainly originated in local folklore. YouTuber CGP Grey provided a similar conclusion in a 2019 video addressing the story of the Staten Island race and its historical discrepancies. Billopp served in a number of Royal Naval vessels: Billopp was given a crown grant by James , Duke of York in 1676 for according to sources either 932 acres (3.77 km ) or 1,167 acres (4.72 km ), on Staten Island in

10368-762: Was Cooper Union , which opened its free reading room to the public in 1859). Bigelow, the most prominent supporter of the plan to merge the two libraries found support in Lewis Cass Ledyard , a member of the Tilden Board, as well as John Cadwalader , on the Astor board. Eventually, John Stewart Kennedy , president of the Lenox board, also came to support the plan. On May 23, 1895, Bigelow, Cadwalader, and George L. Rives agreed to create "The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations". The plan

10476-484: Was Our Lady Help of Christians School, which was run under Our Lady Help of Christians Parish . The school dates back to 1904. It was announced in February, 2019 that this school would close at the end of the 2018–2019 school year. The New York Public Library (NYPL)'s Tottenville branch is located at 7430 Amboy Road. The one-story Carnegie library building was designed by Carrère and Hastings and opened in 1904. It

10584-489: Was also dismantled, the bulk of its collection relocated at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts as the Reserve Film and Video Collection, with parts of its collection redistributed. The site was redeveloped for a luxury hotel. Several veteran librarians have retired, and the number of age-level specialists in the boroughs have been cut back. The New York Public Library system maintains commitment as

10692-556: Was an English officer of the Royal Navy in the seventeenth century who commanded various ships of the line , including HMS  Greenwich in the Battle of Bantry Bay . He is noted as part of the " Staten Island Legend", a likely apocryphal story that describes Billopp's circumnavigation of Staten Island in a sailing race to claim it for New York . Though the legend has survived in oral tradition and popular culture since at least

10800-532: Was appointed as head of the geography section of the War Department's New York Office of Military Intelligence from 1942 to 1945. Ristow and his staff discovered, copied, and loaned thousands of strategic, rare or unique maps to war agencies in need of information not available through other sources. The organizers of the New York Public Library, wanting an imposing main branch, chose a central site along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, on top of

10908-422: Was built by Christopher Billop and so named because it was the site of negotiations to end the American Revolutionary War in 1776, but these were unsuccessful. The historic residence has been preserved as the centerpiece of the city park of the same name. The Billop family, who developed the estate in 1678, continued to own it and the surrounding property during the 1776 meeting. Because they were Loyalists during

11016-424: Was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and designated a New York City Landmark in 1967. At the behest of Joseph Cogswell , John Jacob Astor placed a codicil in his will to bequeath $ 400,000 (equivalent of $ 14.1 million in 2023) for the creation of a public library. After Astor's death in 1848, the resulting board of trustees executed

11124-411: Was developed in the 19th century, founded from an amalgamation of grass-roots libraries and social libraries of bibliophiles and the wealthy, aided by the philanthropy of the wealthiest Americans of their age. The "New York Public Library" name may also refer to its Main Branch , which is easily recognizable by its lion statues named Patience and Fortitude that sit either side of the entrance. The branch

11232-427: Was hailed as an example of private philanthropy for the public good. On December 11, John Shaw Billings was named as the library's first director. The newly established library consolidated with the grass-roots New York Free Circulating Library in February 1901. In March, Andrew Carnegie tentatively agreed to donate $ 5.2 million (equivalent of $ 190 million in 2023) to construct sixty-five branch libraries in

11340-501: Was important to the economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But this practice ceased in 1916 when the New York City Health Department determined that pollution made it unsafe. After the decrease in waterfront industries and decades of working to improve water quality, in 2005, the city approved oyster harvesting again. Until the late 1950s, Tottenville 8 was one of the two telephone exchanges on

11448-601: Was named the Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of the Research Libraries. NYPL had engaged consultants Booz Allen Hamilton to survey the institution, and Ferriero endorsed the survey's report as a big step "in the process of reinventing the library". The consolidation program has resulted in the elimination of subjects such as the Asian and Middle East Division (formerly named Oriental Division), as well as

11556-440: Was principally used to recycle copper and other metals from old wires. Mill Creek, which runs through the site, was also scheduled to be cleaned as part of the project. Tottenville Beach was largely undeveloped until the 1990s. It is exclusively residential, and is bordered on the south and west by Conference House Park. The beach for which the area was named is most popular for fishing, rather than swimming or sunbathing. During

11664-739: Was taken in July 2018, NYC library card holders are allowed to visit Whitney Museum , the Guggenheim and 31 other prominent New York cultural institutions for free. In June 2017, Subway Library was announced. It was an initiative between the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Public Library, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , and Transit Wireless . The Subway Library gave New York City Subway riders access to e-books, excerpts, and short stories. Like all public libraries in New York,

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